Getting Into High School in Philadelphia

[Pages:48]A report from

Sept 2017

Getting Into

High School in

Philadelphia

The workings of a complicated system

Contents

1 Overview

3 The high school application and selection process

Types of high schools3 How the process worked in 2015-164

6 Getting accepted by special admission schools

Performance on standardized tests6 Students' decisions to apply9 Schools' acceptance decisions10 Students with qualifying standardized test scores who were not admitted12 Students without qualifying standardized test scores who were admitted14 Accepting the admission offer15

18 Who attended the special admission schools

Student characteristics18 Type of school for eighth grade20 The role of geography21

24 Who attended other schools

Citywide admission schools24 Neighborhood schools26

27 Conclusion

28 Appendix A

32 Appendix B

36 Appendix C

39 Appendix D

40 Methodology

Data from the School District of Philadelphia40 Charter school data40

42 Endnotes

About this report

This report was researched and written by Michelle Schmitt, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia research initiative. Assistance by Pew colleagues included a methodology review by Alan van der Hilst. The report was edited by Larry Eichel, director of the Philadelphia research initiative, along with Elizabeth Lowe, Daniel LeDuc, and Bernard Ohanian.

Acknowledgments

This report benefited from the assistance and insights of officials and staff of the School District of Philadelphia, including William R. Hite Jr., superintendent; Karyn Lynch, chief of student support services; and Tonya Wolford, chief of evaluation, research, and accountability. Amber Goldberg and Adrienne Reitano of the office of research and evaluation provided data support. Lutzgarde Soderman and Daniela Romero from the office of family and community engagement gave additional insight about the district's outreach efforts. The study also benefited from the expertise of several external reviewers: Karen Campbell, upper school learning specialist, William Penn Charter School, and former program director, White-Williams Scholars; Sean Corcoran, associate professor of economics and education policy, New York University; and David Lapp, director of policy research at Research for Action. Neither the reviewers nor their organizations necessarily endorse the report's findings or conclusions.

About the Philadelphia research initiative

Pew's Philadelphia research initiative provides timely, impartial research and analysis on key issues facing Philadelphia for the benefit of the city's residents and leaders.

Contact: Elizabeth Lowe, communications officer Email: elowe@ Project website: philaresearch

The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life.

Overview

In the School District of Philadelphia, students are not required to attend a particular high school. A wide--and potentially bewildering--variety of choices confronts eighth-graders and their parents. To go anywhere other than their neighborhood high schools, students must identify the options they think fit their needs and apply to them.

Counting charter schools, Philadelphia has 98 publicly funded high schools, some of which offer multiple programs. These include 24 neighborhood schools, the majority of which are rated as low-quality under the district's accountability system. Most eighth-graders apply to other programs that get better ratings and are more selective, including 21 highly competitive "special admission" programs--all of which have academic standards for admission--and 121 less competitive programs categorized by the district as "citywide admission." Also available are 43 charter high schools, which are publicly funded but not operated by the school district.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, working with data provided by the School District of Philadelphia, analyzed the process of matching students who were eighth-graders in 2014-15 with district-run high schools for the subsequent school year. The analysis sought to shed light on two central topics: How the application, admission, and enrollment process worked for students applying to ninth grade--and who attended the special admission schools, presumably the most desirable of the district-run institutions. In the end, 3,468 students went to these schools, accounting for 26 percent of the ninth-graders districtwide. The system, which has changed little since then, had elements that were complex and potentially challenging for students and parents to navigate.

The vast majority of students participated in a centralized application process. First they filled out an online form, listing up to five schools in order of preference. Then they found out which schools had admitted them and chose among the available options. In addition, other decisions made by students and their families affected the outcomes.

Some eighth-graders with qualifying test scores made no attempt to get into the special admission schools. Other students, once accepted, turned down the offers, enrolling at their neighborhood schools or somewhere else. And a number of students, once enrolled, did not come to school when the academic year opened in September. Opting out at these decision points was more common among certain groups of students, particularly Latinos. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. called the disappearance of any qualified student from the special admission pipeline a "lost opportunity" for both the district and the student.

The analysis found that acceptance to the special admission schools for 2015-16 depended on three factors:

?? The academic qualifications of the student, with test scores playing a key role. For each school, minimum applicant scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test were listed in the district's high school directory; many students who did not have those scores applied anyway.

?? Student and parent/guardian participation in the application process, through which they selected the schools the students wanted to attend.

?? Admission decisions made independently by administrators at individual schools.

Even though school officials said a student's test scores are a key to acceptance at the special admission schools, some eighth-graders who lacked the minimum scores got in--11 percent of admitted students came from this group--and some who had the scores were rejected. District officials said the admission of students who did not meet the test-score criteria occurred in some cases because individual schools did not have enough qualified applicants. Rejections of students who did have the minimum scores were probably based on their grades, poor performance in an interview or audition, attendance and behavior records, or lack of space.

1

All of these factors resulted in ninth-grade student bodies at the special admission schools in 2015-16 that differed in a number of ways from the district's ninth-graders as a whole:

?? There were higher percentages of Asians and whites, and lower percentages of Latinos and blacks. Among all ninth-graders, 56 percent were black, 19 percent Latino, 14 percent white, and 7 percent Asian. At the special admission schools, the numbers were 51 percent black, 12 percent Latino, 16 percent white, and 17 percent Asian.

?? There were smaller percentages of low-income students. Although individuals receiving federal poverty assistance accounted for 60 percent of all ninth-graders, they represented 51 percent of those in the special admission schools.

?? There were more girls and fewer boys. In the district as a whole, 51 percent of ninth-graders were boys and 49 percent girls, but at the special admission schools, the figures were 41 percent boys and 59 percent girls.

Also present at lower percentages in special admission schools than in the district as a whole were English language learners and students receiving special education support because of learning difficulties or physical disabilities.

The analysis indicates that test scores were a key reason for some groups' greater success in getting into the special admission schools. For instance, 61 percent of white and 71 percent of Asian students for whom data were available--mostly eighth-graders who attended district-run schools--had the minimum standardized test scores for nearly all of the special admission schools. But only 33 percent of black and 34 percent of Latino students had the necessary scores.

Among students with qualifying test scores, the special admission schools rejected higher percentages of some groups of students. Those groups included Latinos, blacks, boys, students receiving federal poverty assistance, and those getting special education support. And among those who did not meet the test score criteria, acceptance rates at the special admission schools were higher among Asians and individuals not receiving federal poverty assistance--and lower among Latinos and students receiving special education support.

Analysis of the data indicated that students' neighborhoods mattered as well. In five city ZIP codes, covering mostly high-income parts of Center City and Northwest Philadelphia, more than half of the eighth-graders enrolled in Philadelphia public schools wound up in special admission schools. In much of West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and Northeast Philadelphia, the percentage of eighth-graders who went to these schools was below 25 percent. This appeared to be not just a matter of where the students lived but where the schools were located. Enrollment was lower in ZIP codes where the schools were relatively far away or not readily accessible by public transportation.

Finally, the type of schools that students attended in eighth grade was a factor. In 2014-15, there were eight special admission schools or programs open to eighth-graders, all of which had academic admission standards. Eighty percent of eighth-graders who attended these programs went on to special admission high schools. Seventy-three percent of students who went to charter schools for ninth grade also attended charters in eighth grade.

In some ways, this mirrors the college application process: Students apply to multiple schools, some more difficult to get into than others, with the differences in quality having potential implications for students' futures. Each school has its own standards, and administrators at each one make decisions on the applications without knowing where else the student has applied. Students may be admitted to multiple schools or none at all.

2

In some other urban districts, each student is admitted to a single school after expressing a preference. The central question examined in this report is how the Philadelphia system for placing students in various high schools and programs works--with particular focus on the highly competitive special admission programs.

The high school application and selection process

Types of high schools

In terms of admissions, high schools and high school programs in Philadelphia fall into four categories: three for district-run schools--special admission, citywide, and neighborhood--and the fourth, a collection of charter schools, which are independently run but receive public funding. (See Table 1.)

Table 1

Types of High Schools and Number of Ninth-Graders, 2015-16

School type

Special admission Citywide Neighborhood Charter

Number of schools and programs

21 121 24 43

Ninth-graders

3,468 2,111 3,603 4,013

Source: Pew analysis of School District of Philadelphia data ? 2017 The Pew Charitable Trusts

The special admission category is the most selective. Twenty-six percent of ninth-graders (3,468 students) attended special admission high schools in the 2015-16 school year. The category includes entire schools, such as Central High School and the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. It also includes magnet and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs at other schools.

These schools and programs have the most stringent academic, attendance, and behavioral criteria. The school district's policy is that acceptance decisions to special admission high schools depend on a combination of these factors. But the importance of each criterion varies from school to school, based on the judgment of the principal. Special admission school principals also have considerable leeway in how they enforce their criteria, sometimes ignoring their school's stated admissions standards. For example, a principal could decide to overlook a student's poor behavior record, even though the admission criteria state that no disciplinary infractions are tolerated. Or a principal might give differential treatment to two students with the same grades, based on which of their previous schools was the more rigorous academically. In the selection process for the academic year 2015-16, standardized test scores were the most clear-cut, objective, and quantifiable of the admissions criteria, although principals said high test scores alone did not guarantee admission.

All special admission schools offer ways for students to earn college credit during high school, through Advanced Placement coursework, the International Baccalaureate program, or dual enrollment options with local universities.1 Some also require interviews or auditions for admission. All students living in Philadelphia are eligible to apply to them.2

3

Another category consists of citywide schools and programs, most of which are selective but with less stringent academic, attendance, and behavior criteria than the special admission schools. These schools and programs enrolled 16 percent of ninth-graders (2,111 students). Many are small career and technical education (CTE) programs housed in large neighborhood schools. There are also four larger stand-alone CTE schools.3 Also included in this category are selective high schools with curricula based on specific themes such as Constitution High School, which focuses on law, democracy, and history. Nonselective citywide schools also include three opened by the school district in 2015 to provide project- and experience-based learning. Some offer geographic preferences for students within specific catchment areas or ZIP codes where district officials said students needed more options.4

The third category is general education programs at neighborhood schools, which 27 percent of ninth-graders (3,603 students) attended. Most neighborhood schools are operated by the district, but some are Renaissance schools, which are run by charter operators. General education programs at neighborhood schools are open to anyone who can prove residence within a school's neighborhood boundaries. Students may also apply to neighborhood schools outside their area and can be awarded seats based on availability. This report does not distinguish between students attending their own or another neighborhood high school. About 75 percent of citywide and neighborhood schools offered Advanced Placement courses, although they typically offered fewer than the special admission schools.

The last category consists of charter schools, enrolling 4,013 ninth-graders, or 30 percent of ninth-grade students.5 The Pennsylvania Law for Charter Schools requires these schools to enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis, except when there are more applicants than slots available. In that case, enrollment is determined through a lottery. Some charters have preferences for specific geographic areas or for students with siblings already attending the school.

How the process worked in 2015-16

For the 2015-16 academic year, according to the School District of Philadelphia's high school directory, eighth-graders seeking to attend any of the publicly funded high schools in Philadelphia had three options:

?? Without filing an application, they could attend their designated neighborhood school. ?? By submitting an online application to the school district, they could seek entry into one or more special

admission, citywide admission, or neighborhood schools.6 They could apply to as many as five different schools or programs, ranking their selections, and could receive multiple offers of admission. ?? They could, at the same time, apply to one or more of the 43 charter schools, each with its own admission process.

Students wishing to attend a special admission school were asked to meet minimum criteria for standardized test scores, grades, and attendance and behavior histories; in some cases, an interview, essay, or audition was required. Although some special admission programs looked for advanced scores (the highest level) in both reading and math, most indicated that either advanced or proficient scores were minimally sufficient.7 Admission criteria for each program were listed in the district's high school directory.

The vast majority of students who attended a special admission school or program in 2015-16 followed this pathway. But 13 percent were admitted without filing online applications or were initially rejected but later admitted.8

4

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download